The developer everyone loves to hate has continued his fine form.

If you're interested in the significant background, have a read first of this:
http://fishbowl.pastiche.org/2007/04...tivation_sucks

And the follow up:
http://fishbowl.pastiche.org/2007/04...fire_aftermath

Like that posters experience, I loved NewsFire. Thought it was head and shoulders above all other RSS/Atom readers on OS X. I gladly paid him the license fee back in September 2005, and have been a happy user since.

Recently, I received my copy of the Leopard 10.5 beta (yes, it's legitimate), and thought i'd try it out. So, on an external drive, I created a new partition and installed Leopard on it. Everything seemed to work well enough. I had installed a bunch of software on the partition, including NewsFire, to simulate an active, usable OS. Wanted to see if things broke, or if they worked without any problems.

So, after several days of use, I was happy and confident enough to install it as my main OS, rather than on a partition. I'm developing some process control software, and build 9A466, whilst not bug free, is stable enough to begin the latest step of development on. So, I backed up my data, and did a fresh install. Subsequently, I reinstalled my software, including NewsFire.

However, it won't let me activate it:
So, I sent off an email to the developer, David Watanabe, with the PayPal email address I used, and even the transaction ID number, and the date of purchase. What do I get? Nothing. Silence.

How much longer do we in the Mac community have to put up with this cancerous developer? I don't care much for his other software, but NewsFire is brilliant. I paid good money for the license, and I don't accept being treated so poorly.

I guess if you don't like it, there are many alternatives. I use NetNewsWire as I found it a bit faster to use than NewsFire.

If you don't like him, don't use his apps, simple

That said, how long has it been since you've asked for support from David? Give him some time to reply.

Been 5 days.

I don't really like NetNewsWire. Never have. But besides, that's not the point. I've paid money for something which I can't now enjoy as I see fit.

Oh well then, David Watanabe is scum of the earth and should die for his vile acts

he is only one person ... just imagine how many emails he would receive each day, either wait, or send another email. if it were a big company i would be peeved, but come on this guy is an independent software developer.

if it was a one off case it wouldn't be so bad but with david its a constant thing.
Have a look on software sites and google and you will find lots of examples

Don't be patronising. He has a very, very long history of poor service and arrogance.

He is known as the non-respondent developer among many circles.
Also as the whining developer in other circles.

True I haven't found the need to bother learning any more.

I'm very tempted to submit to digg this thread just to highlight yet again why people should avoid paying and using his software.

Yet you still bought NewsFire

I wasn't well aware of that back in September 2005 ...

to quote myself in another thread:

xtorrent is real pretty, but....

i must admit, even though decryption interviewed dave watanabe, which was cool, i cant help but think he is a dodgy mofo. i mean, he makes some pretty stuff, but everything he charges for really should be free. newsfire is rss, now really, who here pays for their rss client. xtorrent is all about sharing linux distros, which we dont pay for, so the client should be free.

acquisition is, i dont know, some how legal, yet he nags the fuck out of you if you try to use that too...

Well, I'm a bit worried now since I use NewsFire too :|

I concur, the limited contact I have had with him matches this statement.

If only I could find something better than Acquisition

I'm still waiting on a response too...

Ah well. I'm sure his business is suffering for it.